Dr Reid's Secret
by ajoytowrite
Summary: There is something going on with Dr. Reid, he is hiding something.  When the secret comes on while chasing an unsub, will they be able to save the young doctor?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Title: Dr. Reid has a secret

Summary: There is something going on with Dr. Reid, he is hiding something. When the secret comes on while chasing an unsub, will they be able to save the young doctor?

This is my first fanfaction. Please be nice, but R & R.

The BAU team quietly shuffled out of the conference room following a de-briefing. Their last case had been a tough and challenging one, but thanks to the team's profile and the quick thinking of Dr. Reid, the Unsub had been caught before ending the life of his next victim. After quietly staring at the facts of the case, he had noticed the fact they needed to pull the case together and solve it.

The flight back to D.C. from Wyoming had been an uneventful one. Everyone tried to catch up on much needed sleep and dreamed of going home after a quick meeting back at the office. Now as everyone left the conference room and headed to their desks to gather things to leave, each one contemplated how to finish their evening.

Derek Morgan glanced at the clock, only 7:00 pm. "Who's up for a drink?," he asked to everyone listening.

"Ooo, me," called Garcia from across the room. "Let me call Kevin first."

"Sure. Count me in too," Prentiss stated. Morgan knew not to wait for Hotch or Rossi. They rarely joined the team for a celebratory drink.

"How about you pretty boy?," he said as Reid walked past him toward the elevators, bag over his shoulder.

Reid shook his head, "Sorry, I have somewhere I have to be."

"Come on Reid, what could you possibly have to get to? A pretty lady perhaps?"

"None of your business, Morgan. See you tomorrow." He waved as the elevator doors closed.

Morgan had expected Reid to turn him down. This situation had played out much the same way for the last few months. As soon as work was done or the day concluded, Reid immediately took off. Morgan was beginning to worry about the young agent. At first he assumed Reid had to catch a "movie" meeting. As Reid kept dodging them, he began to wonder if there was a woman in the picture. But as it now moved into months, he even began to doubt this. There was no proof that there was anyone in his life. No phone calls, no awkward blushes, and definitely no change in that horrible wardrobe. A woman would have probably changed that. Still, there were some strange signs coming from Reid that something was off, aside from constantly bailing on them. Sometimes it appeared that he was in pain, clutching his stomach or running a hand over his bad knee and wincing in pain. He always looked tired, but this appeared to be worsening and the dark circles getting darker. Maybe it was time to say something, maybe sit down with Reid and try to have a talk. He really wanted to know what was going on. Shrugging, Morgan pushed it from his mind knowing that Reid would talk when he was ready.

"Ok, let's go, sweet cheeks," said Garcia, pulling Morgan away from his thoughts. She caught his stare at the closed elevator doors. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just worried about the kid. I think there is something up, but I just can't figure it out."

"You don't think he is using again do you?"

"No," Morgan said quietly, "The behavior is completely different. No, it's something else. I just hope he would come to us if he needs anything."

Garcia suddenly grabbed Morgan's hand and began pulling him toward the elevator. "Ok, enough for one day. Besides, you are not supposed to be profiling each other right? Let's go get that drink. Coming Emily?" She called out behind her.

"Yep, right behind you guys." Said Prentiss. As they got on the elevator, she spoke up again, "I'm worried about him too, Morgan."

"You've noticed something too?"

"Just that he is always running off. And the other day I swear it looked like he was pain, like it hurt to move or something. I wanted to ask him about it, but I didn't think he would have talked to me," she reflected.

"I think I will try to talk to him. If he refuses, then Garcia can pick apart his life until she finds something out," he smiled sideways at the information analyst standing next to him.

"Oh no you don't, gorgeous one. Don't pull me into this. Try mortal means first, then you may come to the supreme goddess of information."

The three friends exited the building, the warm air lightening the mood of the group as they discussed where to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Morgan glanced at the clock from his desk, 8:10 am. Prentiss was working diligently at her desk, long lost under undone paperwork. They all secretly hoped from a day to simply catch up on paper work, though this seemed unlikely the way it had been lately. Through the window to his office, Morgan could see Hotch on the phone. Rossi stood near the coffee pot, watching over the bullpen. They were one member short. Where was Reid? He was never late. If anything he was forever early. Morgan looked back at his own paperwork. It was only ten minutes and the young doctor would probably stroll in anytime.

As if on que, Reid rounded the corner into the office. Morgan took in his appearance as Reid quickly moved to his desk and removed his messenger bag. If anything, he looked worse than yesterday. He looked tired as hell.

"Late night Reid?," Morgan couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, kinda." Reid looked totally unpulled together. He sat down at his desk.

"Wanna tell me about it?"

"Not really," Reid stared blankly at his computer, trying to remember what he intended to do. He then stood back up.

"You ok kid?"

"Yeah, just haven't had a coffee yet this morning. I slept through my alarm clock. You know how I am without coffee." Reid threw him a weak smile and made his way toward the coffee pot.

As Morgan moved to follow him, Hotch called out from above them, "We have a case. BAU team, conference room." He retreated into his office to pick up files.

As the team settled around the round table of the conference room, Morgan glanced over at Reid. He was nursing his coffee, absently rubbing his leg. Morgan shook it off, they would talk after this case. That settled it.


	3. Chapter 3

The unthinkable had happened. How had they gotten into this situation? Morgan watched in horror as the situation unfolded before him. There was a man and a knife and his friend.

The case had taken the team to Florida. There had been a string of serial murders involving postal workers in a large county. There had been three deaths, each involving mail carriers that had their throats slashed in broad daylight while making their everyday rounds. Somehow there had been no witnesses so far and the local police had no leads to run with. The team efficiently took up the challenge, breaking up to look at the crime scenes. They were simple and barbaric murders, appearing to be personal crimes. Garcia quickly ran background searches on all of the victims and revealed they all use to work out the same postal office years before. The link was easy enough to see.

Upon converging, the team easily came up with a profile. They narrowed the focus on a worker rather than a customer due to the targeting of multiple carriers all killed in a very personal way. The next day, the list of possible Unsubs was narrowed to two disgruntled employees: Lee Watkins and Thomas Bell. After further digging, Lee Watkins was revealed to be their guy and the team moved in. Upon entering the post office, Watkins grabbed the closest customer and ran into back of the mail warehouse. The team pursued cautiously. They moved through the rows of boxes, looking for the unsub and the victim.

"Watkins…come on. You aren't going to be leaving here. You have no reason to hurt that man. He did nothing to you, not like the others." Hotch called out across the warehouse.

Hotch signaled for them to split up. He and Rossi went down the first section. Prentiss and Reid made toward the back of the warehouse. Morgan headed toward the middle rows of the warehouse. All had guns drawn. As Hotch moved down the aisle, he caught sight of a foot behind a box. He looked at Rossi, who nodded and they moved in unison toward it. Hotch jumped suddenly in front of the box to find the customer cowering behind the box. He pulled him to his feet and Rossi took him toward the exit quickly. Their unsub was still in the room somewhere and was armed with a knife.

Morgan had made his way down another aisle, keeping his eyes open from anything. He had to be here somewhere. Suddenly there was a commotion from the back of the warehouse. Morgan took off in the direction of the sound.

Prentiss and Reid had started down the back of the warehouse. Suddenly a cart had slammed into Prentiss, leaving her sprawled on the floor, as her gun bounced and slid under a shelving unit. When she looked up, the unsub was behind Reid, the knife to his throat.

Morgan rounded the corner with Hotch and Rossi on his heels and stopped at the sight of Reid with the unsub. His hands were slightly raised and his gun still in his right hand.

"Drop the gun," Watkins stated coldly. Reid let it fall and slid it away from them.

"Don't come any closer," cried Watkins, desperation in his voice. "You are going to let me out of here, or I will kill him. I don't have anything against him, but I don't have any choice."

The air between the rest of the team and the unsub was static. They all stared, guns still raised, but waiting to see where this would go. Prentiss had gotten back to her feet and moved behind Hotch.

Morgan knew this was bad. How had this happened? He knew Reid was going to be terrified. He was not built or trained for this type of situation. Morgan know when he looked into his friend's face, he would see terror. He pulled his eyes towards Reid's eyes anyways. Surprisingly, Reid looked calm. He stood there quietly, as if he was thinking of something really hard, as if he were doing some sort of calculation. Morgan didn't know what to do. He expected his friend to fall to pieces and make the situation worse, but Reid just acted like there was no problem.

Watkins carefully eyed the team. Hotch, Rossi and Prentiss on one side of him, and Morgan on the other. Finally Hotch was the one to break the silence, "Ok" and he held up his gun, "There is no reason to hurt our agent."

As the unsub looked toward Hotch, that was all the opening Reid needed. His hand shot up faster than anyone could have thought possible. He grabbed the unsub by the wrist on the arm with the knife at two pressure points, pushing the weapon outward. Watkins screamed in pain. A short elbow to the ribs with his other arm sent the suspect doubling over. Reid then took advantage of this by kicking the man in the back of the knee and he folded to the ground. The team stared dumbly. Somehow in less than three seconds, Reid had the unsub on his back on the ground howling in pain. Reid's knee was in his stomach, and a cold look of determination was on his face. The knife was still in his hand, with Reid's hand still around his wrist. With a quick motion, his hit the man's hand against the shelf behind him and the knife fell to the floor.

Morgan and the rest of the team stood there in shock. They lowered their weapons and simply stared at their friend.

"Um…" Reid looked around at his team, "Is anyone going to help me?" he asked innocently.

As if the spell was broken, they all rushed forward to help secure Watkins.

"Reid, are you ok, man?" Morgan asked quickly, looking the kid over. There wasn't a scratch on him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Reid said quickly. He had moved off the suspect now as Hotch and Rossi cuffed the man. He glanced around and found his gun across the aisle and went to re-holster it.

Morgan exchanged glances with Prentiss. She just smiled and shook her head. No one knew what had just happened.


	4. Chapter 4

After wrapping up the case, the team headed for the plane to head home. They all took up their normal seats, but after a few minutes in the air Morgan could stand it no longer. He got up and moved to sit by Reid.

"So…" he asked in a whisper, "Where the hell did that come from back there?"

Reid gave a half smile, and resigned himself that his secret was out. "I got tired of being the weak one," he said honestly. "So just after JJ left, I started working with one of the self-defense coordinators for the FBI. You know….to get some training. Nothing heavy. I just wanted to be able to defend myself and not be the weak link on the team anymore."

Morgan was impressed. "Reid, you learned how to do that in a few months?"

"Well, it's simply a matter of quickly calculating the variable outcomes of each situation and applying a set number of moves appropriate to that situation."

Morgan just shook his head. "Only you Reid," he chuckled.

"Only me what?"

"Only you could turn a hostage situation into a math problem." Reid just shrugged.

"So you constantly bailing on us…" Morgan inquired.

"Just trying to get as much time in with the trainer as possible. Sorry I have been dragging too, the sessions have been wearing me out."

"And you look like you have been in pain lately: holding your bad knee, your stomach?"

"Have you ever worked with Natalie? She shows no mercy. She kicks my butt every day. I'm surprised I can move at all sometimes. The knee has been giving me issues with the training, but I'm working through it. "

"Natalie, huh? Is she the really good looking one?" Reid nodded, embarrassed. "Wow, she is tough. But judging from what happened back in Florida, I would say your training has been a success." Morgan was really proud of his friend.

"I'll say," replied Reid, "After beating me up for three months, she finally asked me to dinner when I get back from this case." He wouldn't look Morgan in the face.

"Way to go Reid!" he exclaimed. Everyone on the plane looked at them. The red spreading across Reid's face was priceless. Morgan decided to leave his alone and moved to tell his new gossip to Emily. Reid ears picked up the "He what?" from her as Morgan told the story. Hotch and Rossi quietly eavesdropped. Smiles spread across the plane.

Now as the team filed out of the conference room after the de-briefing, Morgan didn't even try to ask Reid to join them for drinks. He watched as Reid walked over to a beautiful brunette waiting in the hallway. Garcia walked up beside Morgan, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Who is that?" she asked. Morgan just looked on at the couple as the woman put her arm around Reid's waste. She then playfully punched him in the ribs. Reid laughed and they walked on toward the elevator.

Morgan finally turned toward Garcia, "Baby girl, I have a story for you. Let's grab a bite to eat." He threw his arm around her and started moving toward the exit as well.

"Wait, why is Reid leaving with a strange woman? Who is she? Can we let him go with a stranger?"

"Baby girl, I think he can handle himself," Morgan chuckled.

The End.


End file.
